Right to Free Legal Aid

Flag India

July 30, 2022

A commemorative postage stamp on the Citizens’ Right to Free Legal Aid : Access to Justice for All :

Issued by India

Issued on Jul 30, 2022

Issued for : Department of Posts is pleased to issue a Commemorative Postage Stamp on Right to Free Legal Aid.

Credits :
Stamp/FDC/Brochure/Cancellation Cachet : Shri Brahm Prakash

Type : Stamp, Mint Condition

Colour : Multi Colour

Denomination : 500 Paise

Stamps Printed : 201600

Printing Process : Wet Offset

Printer : Security Printing Press, Hyderabad

About :

The Constitution of India is premised on multiple fundamentals of which equality and justice are the prominent beacons. The Preamble of our Constitution speaks about three contours of justice i.e. social, economic and political, thus emphasizing its relevance at all times and concomitant to access to justice is the concept of ‘welfare state’ as envisaged under the Directive Principles of State Policy essentially laying down those cardinal and elemental notions which portray a means to secure equality and justice.
Article 39A is a tool to guarantee the aforesaid idea as this provision is based on the edifice of ‘access to justice’. Access, in particular refers to the capability of bringing something within the reach of a person without any hassle and as a matter of right and the importance of making justice accessible cannot be emphasized enough. To make justice accessible, ‘legal aid’ was realized in early eighty’s in India.
During this time, citizens started getting conscious about their rights but due to the poverty and ignorance resulting from British slavery were incapacitated from approaching the courts. The sincere need of providing the marginalized sections with legal aid was then felt and consequently the ‘Legal Services Authorities Act’ was enacted in 1987 by the Parliament. The objective of the Act is to provide for establishment of such legal services institutions across the country under the aegis of a national level authority.
The poor, downtrodden and backward sections in India suffer from what we can call as ‘legal incompetence’. Such people are deprived of a voice which could positively assert his rights and demand them without any hiccups. To be the voice of such unheard voices, legal aid is incredibly helpful and a means of upliftment of such strata of people. Free Legal Aid is a formal embodiment of the substantive conception comprising access to justice. This conception predominantly outlines the right of a person to approach judicial fora for the redressal of his grievances which in turn is secured by legal aid.
Legal Aid primarily encapsulates a mechanism to provide legal assistance at the state expense to the marginalized sections and is spreading ‘legal awareness’ at a mass level and thus sensitizing the citizens about the existence of stringent legislations and an equally powerful mechanism to enforce those rights. This thought has achieved great heights by bringing in existence ‘Lok Adalat’, where disputes at pre-litigation stage and even pending cases are resolved amicably, thus creating an impact by recording huge disposals day by day.
Legal Aid emanates from two corners of the Golden Triangle of our Constitution i.e., Article 14 and Article 21 a guarantee of equality before law and right to life and liberty respectively. Hence, justice is made accessible through right to free legal aid which will always deserve a mention because it is a reminder to the downtrodden people of India that they will never be left behind the lurch and will always be given helping hand in times of distress.
Text : Referenced from contents provided by the proponent.